sarah in nyc

Like every year, Rosh HaShanah is quickly followed by Yom Kippur. In my family, the fast is always broken with some Cholesterol Death Kugel. It’s delicious but if you ate it regularly you are nearly guaranteed arterial blockage.  We eat this kugel on Yom Kippur  and on Shavuot. I also make this kugel when someone needs a clear indication that they are really beloved. This year, I decided to make the noodles from scratch. It’s a nice touch, entirely unnecessary. I like the physical effort that goes into making  the noodles. I liked doing the chesbon nefesh   soul math one needs to do this season of the year as I was working the dough. I used to approach noodle making with a certain amount of trepidation. I followed the recipe from Mark Ruhlman to the letter. this time, I poured a bunch of semolina flour in a bowl and added eggs until it felt right. I used to think that making noodles required specialized tools. Below, you see my tools; a bench scraper, a length of...

This post is for Alan, who requested the recipe at last night's break-fast. My mother began making this kugel once she moved to Quincy in 1957. I assume that it came from one of my parents' congregants. My parents used to host elegant Saturday evening get- togethers for fellow rabbis and their wives. This kugel was often served. The kugel was so emblematic of my mother's cooking that my cousin made a pan for me to eat right after my oldest was born. She felt badly that my mother couldn't be at my side, so she made the kugel to create my mother's presence. My parents' first pulpit was in Halifax, Nova Scotia. For the 50th anniversary of the congregation,a really wonderful community cookbook was put together. I have a precious collection of community cookbooks. This Shaar Shalom cookbook is probably one of the best. It combines community history and photographs along with the recipes. I'm sure that you can order it from them. ShaarShalom@eastli...